Pennoyer Park tennis courts will be converted to Pickleball courts

The City Council voted 13-2 Monday to amend the city’s 2023 Capital Improvement Program to increase the appropriation for the Pickleball courts to a total of $62,000 by shifting $22,000 from the park’s impact fees. The City Council then voted 13-2 to award a $53,831 contract to Kenosha-based Cicchini Asphalt to convert the existing tennis courts at 3601 Seventh Avenue to pickleball courts with stripes and install permanent nets.

Alds. David Mau and Kelly MacKay voted against both the funding resolution and the agreement.

Work on the project is expected to begin this summer and last 19 days, weather permitting.

Mau said he believes such spending is unwise.

“This is a very good example of something we should vote against,” Mau said. We have to prioritize. We can’t just say yes to everything that comes our way because, because people want Pickleball.

Mau said he sent his colleagues articles about the sport and this is not my opinion, these articles showed that Pickleball increases our health care costs because of all the injuries.

The article also pointed out that only rich people play Pickleball … (and) almost only white people play Pickleball. With all of that in mind, including the fact that we can’t pay for everything, like I said, we can’t pay for our staff, we can’t pay for our police officers, you have to vote against something. At least one thing, please. We don’t have an endless pocketbook. You are not at home, not with your family and not here in the city, Mau said.

MacKay also expressed skepticism.

Young people have less and less to do and we need to put our money somewhere better than Pickleball, MacKay said.

Ald. Dominic Ruffalo had the opposite opinion of Mau.

I happened to be jogging downtown by the lake on Saturday and I went to the Pennoyer Park Pickleball courts there and there must have been 30 people there. Everyone is playing and some are waiting to play, Ruffalo said. Kenosha residents want Pickleball. I don’t play it, but the citizens want it. I didn’t look at what color they were. It’s none of my business what color they are. They enjoyed the sport and let them play.

It’s about time. Fewer and fewer people play tennis and we have a lot of tennis courts and we were going to turn some of them into Pickleball. I don’t know what the big deal is. People want it, and if it makes sense, we should do it, he said.

Ald. Anthony Kennedy said the city pays all city employees and talked about $56,000 of the $80 million budget.

We were talking about something that increases the utilization rate of an asset that is being used by a smaller and smaller number of people. You want to talk about an elite sport, let’s talk about tennis, Kennedy said. I don’t want to live in a city where some of my colleagues want to live, where… the only thing you should do is provide some very basic services.

I don’t want to live in that town, Kennedy said. I want to live in the city of Kenosha, where our parks are incredibly invested and continue to be the crown jewel of our city.”

“It’s hard sometimes to sit in these seats and make these decisions. This is not a hard decision for me. And I’ve played Pickleball and I’m not white or rich,” Kennedy added.

I think one of our jobs as caretakers is to make sure the city’s amenities are used, Ald. Daniel Prozanski said.

If for some reason the tennis courts have not been used much for playing tennis, and that there is a demand for Pickleball courts, it is a really good idea to turn those tennis courts into Pickleball courts, Prozanski said. It’s a good use to get more people to the parks and increase the use of the parks.

Prozanski added: Don’t be sour about Pickleball.

Mau objecting to the fact that we have tennis courts and they are no longer popular speaks volumes in my opinion.

The government does stupid things all the time and things that are unpopular all the time, Mau said. At some point we have to stop if you don’t have enough money. We cannot predict the future. We don’t know how popular Pickleball will be in the future. Obviously, none of us predicted that tennis would not be popular. Why is tennis not popular anymore?

If people want Pickleball, they’ll make Pickleball (courts). Wow. Imagine that, he said.

Pickleball’s popularity has exploded in recent years in all age groups. It is a tennis-like game played on a badminton-sized court. Players use a paddle resembling a giant ping-pong paddle and a plastic ball resembling a ball.

Sports participation almost doubled in 2022 and has grown by more than 150% in the past three years. 2023 Sports and Fitness Industry Association Top Line Participation Report.